Even after the Delhi government has waved a green flag to premium bus aggregators to operate in the capital, Gurugram-based Shuttl has still cut down on its staff personnel and certain routes as part of a consolidation drive to streamline their business.
Shuttl, owned by Super Highway Labs Pvt. is the biggest bus-aggregator in India. It currently operates in the Delhi/NCR region, and helps passengers connect with buses plying on specific routes in the city. The service boasts to complete more than 20,000 rides per day using their massive 500 bus fleet. It has offered more than one million rides in the Delhi/NCR region in just 10 months of its operation.
Shuttl has confirmed the consolidation move in an e-mail to DealStreetAsia, and said that the company is on a growth trajectory and will continue their planned expansion into new cities.
A spokesperson of the company added that,
We’re a product-centric company that looks to solve things by leveraging technology. Over the last few months we’ve automated most of the process which require human intervention on the field. This has led to some entry level roles becoming less relevant. We’ve thus parted ways with 15-odd people and are providing them with all the requisite support for outplacement.
This seems to be a legible reason for the company to consolidate and shut down services on routes with less passengers to meet commuter demands in other areas of the capital. The company says that it will expedite their funds into hiring for critical positions across the company and is also underway their planned expansion into other cities beyond their homeground.
With almost an year worth of experience under their belt, Shuttl has remained true to its vision and acted as a complementary arm to the crowded public transportation of the capital. This transition to shared commuter buses has also had a positive effect on the environment and reduced pollution. With over 5,000 private automobiles off the road, the company has hepled reduce over 50k tonnes of carbon emissions till date.
For what has been called the ‘future of public transport‘, Shuttl has recently grabbed a massive $20 Million round, from the likes of Lightspeed Ventures, Sequoia and Times Internet. The company founded by Deepanshu Malviya and Amit Singh had earlier raised $3 million in seed funding from a group of angel investors.
Shuttl is in direct competition with Ola, which has launched its own Shuttl service in order to compete with the bus aggregator and expand into another automobile segment. Bangalore-based ZipGo has also its bus aggregation services, currently operates in Jaipur and Delhi/NCR region. But, the bus aggregator is in a heated war with the Karnataka government which has banned the company to operate in the state of Karnataka.
